The Rapture Review: Apocalyptic Drama Lands Amid UK Heatwave
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- The Rapture is a five-episode Channel 4 adaptation of Liz Jensen's 2010 novel, set in a near-future UK where rising temperatures coincide with apocalyptic religious movements; the reviewer saw only the first two episodes.
- Ruth Madeley stars as Dr. Gabrielle Fox, a wheelchair-using clinical psychotherapist returning to work two years after a car crash killed her husband and left her paralysed from the waist down.
- India Amarteifio plays Bethany Krall, a 17-year-old convicted at 15 of stabbing her mother with a screwdriver, whose closed-eye "vision-drawings" of death scenes nurse Rafiq (Naby Dakhli) believes come true.
- Sam Hazeldine plays Bethany's father Leonard, leader of the "Faith Way" sect who preaches "Choose hope," broadcasts sermons online, and denounces the militant environmental group Climate Front — a role the reviewer notes viewers are primed to dislike.
- Iwan Rheon plays investigative journalist Dick and Jack Farthing plays Frasier, Gabs' potential new love interest, amid what the reviewer called a chaotic plot juggling grief, guilt, prophecy, climate activism, and religious fervour.
- The reviewer found the novel's 2010 premise — apocalyptic Christian cults — now reads like political extremists "embracing the apocalypse," giving the adaptation power from the UK's current record-breaking heatwave, though warned the remaining three episodes must tighten to avoid frustration.
Why it matters: For viewers, the show's execution determines whether a climate-anxious premise pays off: the reviewer praised individual scenes (Bethany's crack of denial, Gabs' new relationship, Rheon's journalist) but warned the dense plot juggling prophecy, grief, environmental militancy, and religious fervour risks frustration unless the final three episodes of this five-part series tighten significantly.
